Not so long ago, the phrase “socially responsible investing” might have brought to mind environmentalists keeping their investment dollars out of companies they believed to be damaging the Earth or animal rights activists rejecting companies who tested their products on harmless creatures.

As the socially responsibly investing, or SRI, sector has grown, its definition has also diversified. Today the phrase encompasses any investment strategy targeted at aligning an individual’s portfolio with their personal convictions. The Social Investment Forum’s 2005 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States identified $2.29 trillion under professional management involved in one or more of the three primary socially responsible investment strategies.

Screening, shareholder advocacy and community investing are the three most common SRI strategies. Screening (the practice of choosing or excluding investments from a portfolio based on the investor’s personal criteria) may be the most commonly known. Individuals may choose to invest, for example, only in companies headed by women or individuals of a particular ethnicity. Or, they may choose not to invest in companies that conflict with their personal beliefs. In addition to the traditional “sin” stocks of gambling, pornography and alcohol, an investor’s “anti” list might include tobacco, nuclear weapons, defense, companies with poor records on labor relations or the environment, religious issues, animal testing or any other issue.

Shareholder advocacy uses the voting rights associated with stock ownership to promote change within the company. Anti-apartheid organizations used this strategy to get companies to pull out of South Africa in the early 1980s. Community investing directs capital from investors to communities that lack traditional financial services such as credit, equity, capital and basic banking products (services that a community needs to grow and thrive).

According to the Social Investment Forum’s study, socially screened mutual fund assets grew 15-fold over the same 10-year period from $12 billion to $179 billion, outpacing the growth percentage of the mutual fund industry, as a whole, in the U.S. However, financial professionals who specialize in socially responsible investing point out that excluding certain companies (or in some cases, certain sectors) from an investment plan can result in potential financial consequences. Performance, benchmarking, implementation and diversification issues may make these investments more difficult to evaluate. In some cases, that may mean an investor has to choose between his beliefs and his bottom line.

If you do choose to factor your personal definition of social responsibility into your financial plan, keep that trade-off in mind. Trying to compare your SRI-screened portfolio’s performance to general indexes like the Dow and S&P 500 may not be accurate comparisons. The Domini 400 Social Index, run by KLD Research & Analytics Inc., attempts to provide a SRI-related benchmark but again, index results may not adequately reflect the result of including or excluding specific investments.

If aligning your investments is important to you, talk to your financial advisor about socially responsible investment strategies and their potential impact on your portfolio. If your objection to a company’s practices or politics doesn’t keep you up at night, you may be better off donating cash or time to the organization than weeding through thousands of investments looking for a soul mate.

• Comments Off

The first quarters of 2008 have seen a paradigm shift in terms of investment not just in the UK but worldwide. The traditional route of investing in property has taken an exorbitant downturn causing an economic knock on effect of gargantuan proportions. No longer do the more popular property markets of, say, Eastern Europe target buyers from the west but now look towards Russia, the Middle East & the Orient for investment.

 

Yet there are still many investors out there who are looking for a new means in which to do just that. They are now more security conscious than ever before and rightly so. With this in mind, an investment company brings to the market ethical & secure alternative investment opportunities, the cream of these being our stamp investment.

 

So why stamps, you may well ask? It may indeed sound ludicrous from the outset, but upon further inspection it makes sense. When comparing the growth in terms of value alongside the more traditional routes such as the FTSE100, Gold and UK property, stamp values have increased considerably in the last few years and outshine the aforementioned categories by a significant margin. Supply and demand is one of the key factors in this as there are only so many rare stamps left in circulation and no longer in production.

 

Add to this an overwhelming increase in the number of collectors worldwide entering the market and it serves to increase the value of these rarities at a very encouraging rate. And the collectors in question are not just from the western nations either. Brazil, India, Russia & China have been recognised as primary locations for collectors, with the latter believed to contain 18 million collectors. When bearing in mind that a recent UPU survey estimated a total of 30 million collectors worldwide, it is interesting to see that China accounts for over half. Intriguingly, as China and indeed other nations continue to grow economically stronger, this figure can only increase, the knock on effect of which will be further continuous increases in value.

 

The current growth in stamp values and the economic downturn in other forms of investment point to the present time to be opportune for entering the rare stamps market. With this in mind, a unique long term investment opportunity containing both security and a guaranteed minimum return of 5-6% per annum has become available. With the minimum term being 5 years, this represents a minimum guarantee of 25%. Whilst this is intriguing in its own right, there is no ceiling for this investment. If your stamps realise at a higher rate then so be it, you simply receive more!

 

Our partners for this investment, Stanley Gibbons, are not only market leaders but have been in existence for over 150 years. As official suppliers by choice to the Queen herself, the company holds and proudly displays the Royal Warrant, a highly sought after distinction many businesses would willingly pay handsomely for. The company currently holds in excess of £24 million under their management portfolio which represents an unrivalled level of liquidity. In terms of security, you would be hard pressed to find another investment with guaranteed returns backed so securely.

 

A full overview of this opportunity is available on request and should you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to contact me at any time and I shall do my utmost to alleviate them. 

 

Investors are now more security conscious than ever before and rightly so. With this in mind, an investment company brings to the market ethical and secure alternative investment opportunities, the cream of these being our stamp investment.

 

http://www.discoverandinvest.com/investment-details.php?id=18

• Comments Off

By.- http://www.MomentumStockTrading.com

We all know that in the stock market is always possible to watch certain stocks go up more than 50% within a few hours to days. This is especially true in the 4th quarter of the year where the buying frenzy starts in wall street.

The financial media constantly reports about momentum stocks that are achieving tremendous gains during the same day. And even when you can see online investors that make $3000 on a single trade, it is also not unusual to watch beginner stock investors lose a great deal of money because of a series of unwise decisions

The problem is that if you don’t know how to pick among stocks & how to properly approach them you could end up wasting dollars instead of making your wallet happy. You can’t just trade stocks like if you where gambling in Vegas or Atlantic City.

The first step in becoming a profitable trader is to start learning how to pick and trade stocks. There are many “ultimate” trading systems out there, but you need to test them in order to discover which ones help you the most. That’s part of your homework as a stock trader. Test several strategies and then test them again until you are able to produce consistent winnings.

 

Bogus stock trading software programs and complicated day trading systems that rely on a “boat load” of technical analysis indicators can confuse you and make you slow, and being slow when trading stocks can be as dangerous as not knowing what to do in the first place.

The worst thing that can happen to a beginner stock market trader is to get information overload. It’s better to go step by step, and test a practical trading strategy that can help you focus on simple ways to make money while picking SOLID hot stock trading opportunities once at a time.



 

In the end, stock trading is all about buying and selling according to your especific knowledge FILTER. Once you master and follow your proven filter parameters like a clock, you can expect to start making serious amounts of cash on a consistent basis.

Fortunately some websites on the internet can show you how to use effective and proven stock trading strategies. One of those sites that can show you how to take advantage of hot stocks using simple to understand and apply momentum trading strategies is MomentumStockTrading.com

Visit them today & discover how to profit in the stock market by picking hot stock trading opportunities in a realistic way every week.

• Comments Off

BY.-  http://www.MomentumStockPick.com 

 

Beginner traders often fantasize or wonder about how some people are able to achieve tremendous profits by trading stocks just a few hours on a daily or weekly basis.

 

So going farther than the hype & the bells and whistles that a lot of the called “trading gurus” like to invoke, the real “secrets” of the stock market game are enclosed within the trading set ups and market signals you rely on to decide how to CHOOSE stocks, as well as WHEN to BUY & when to SELL them, or even when to SHORT SELL those that are poised for a profitable fall.

 

So the clearer your set ups are, the faster you can spot a potentially profitable trading scenario and ACT ON IT reducing your risk.

 

Complicated technical systems and information overload can make you slow and confuse you right from the start, making you loose money instead of making your profits grow.

 

In essence, You can be sure that the trading method you employ to approach the stock market and pick stocks can make a big difference in your results as a trader. In order to succeed you will need to FOCUS on a set of simple trading strategies that you can implement without hesitation.

 

Fortunately some sites on the web do offer more effective and updated day trading methodologies. One of those sites that can show you how to take advantage of certain stocks on positive and negative momentum as well is MomentumStockPick.com

 

They focus on momentum stock trading strategies, that are practical and easier to apply than many other technical systems out there.

 

Stock trading doesn’t have to be complicated as many people perceive. But you do need to follow a well organized set of rules and tactics, that once you master them, you can aspire to replicate profitable trades with consistency.

• Comments Off

BY.-  http://www.MomentumStockTrading.com

In the stock market it’s not impossible to watch a stock move up dramatically in a matter of hours or days. Investors and traders can make great money and fatten their wallets every time this happens.

This seems great for every one that wants to try their fortune in the stock market, but the problem is that if you don’t know what stocks to look for and how to properly approach them you could end up wasting cash instead of making your profits grow. That’s why the most important aspect of stocktrading is the knowledge FILTER you employ to make your buy and sell decisions.

There are many “fantastic” stock systems and trading software out there, but you need to test them in order to discover which ones help you the most. That’s part of your homework as a stock trader. Test, test and test again.

Complicated stock trading strategies that rely on a “boat load” of technical analysis indicators can make you slow, and being slow when trading stocks can be as dangerous as not knowing what to do in the first place.

The worst thing that can happen to a beginner trader is to get information overload. It’s better to go step by step, and test a practical stock trading strategy that can show you how to focus on concrete ways to make money while picking SOLID hot stock trading opportunities once at a time.

In essence, You can be sure that the trading method you employ to approach the stock market and pick stocks can make a big difference in your results as a trader.

Fortunately some sites on the web can show you how to take advantage of stocks in a practical way every week by minimizing risks. One of those sites is MomentumStockPick at

http://www.MomentumStockTrading.com    

They focus on picking certain stocks that can generate excellent gains on the same day.

Visit them today and learn how to take advantage of the market by picking the hottest opportunities this month.

• Comments Off

By.- http://www.MomentumStockTrading.com 

The stock market should present you with a wide variety of NEW hot stocks in 2009. Many of them are going to be new technology stocks that come from the nanotech, biotech, financial, energy, healthcare & communications sectors.

Most of them might seem promising, but the truth is that a good number of these trading & investing opportunities could be extremely risky, while others are simply not as good as they look. That’s why it’s very important to know how to choose among the best especially if you want to day trade them.

When you know how to pick and approach the best hot stock trading opportunities, you are able to generate a consistent and respectable amount of money in a very short period of time.

Experienced day traders recognize that trading hot stocks on momentum can be the fastest way to make money in the stock market, especially on uncertain times like these.

You don’t necessarily have to trade momentum hot stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take advantage of them when you encounter the best opportunities for going long or for shorting them to make money when they are poised to fall down.

If You decide to day trade stocks just keep always in mind that for a trader to survive and be consistently profitable, its necessary to keep things as simple as possible. To much confusion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of your screen.

In the end, stock market day trading is all about picking the best daily stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

• Comments Off